S.E.R. FAQ
Home
Search
NotTaR of Television Sets : Buying a TV in Europe                   
 Copyright © 1994-2007, Samuel M. Goldwasser. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying. I may be contacted via the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ (www.repairfaq.org) Email Links Page.

     << More information about wa.. |  Index  | Could a TV be modified fo.. >>

Buying a TV in Europe

"I have the following question for you specialists:

Can I buy a TV in any west-european country and use it in any other west-european country? For example, buying a TV in the Netherlands and use it in Greece or buying in France and using in England."

(From: Jeroen H. Stessen (Jeroen.Stessen@philips.com).)

The general answer is: NO.

There are multi-standard TV's that cover more countries, but a TV that covers them all is extremely rare. Most countries now have PAL-BG, including all of Germany. England has PAL-I, the analog sound is at a different frequency and the digital sound is their own variety of Nicam. France has Secam L-L', mostly incompatible with anything else. I don't know about Greece, probably PAL-BG. Most Philips high-end sets can do PAL-BG, Secam-BG and NTSC (the latter from the baseband video inputs only).

(From: Allan Mounteney (allan@amounten.demon.co.uk).)

The answer is YES. Well, at least one.

Reason I know is that I was with a company that made computers with TV-OUT for world wide use and wanted something that could show that the TV Out worked for various countries.

This ONE and ONLY one we could find Three years ago came from Germany and covered PAL, SECAM and the American NTSC systems and came with a note that said from the time of making/selling that set it would not work in just one small country in South America. All features (including audio) were adjustable from the front panel Menu and it was a Grundig 17" job. I am advised that there is a load of others on the market now.

The company who seemed to know all about these international sets and gave us good service at that time was Andrew McCulloch Ltd in Cambridge UK. Phone #44(0)1223-351825


 <<More information about wa.. | ToC | Could a TV be modified fo..>>